Beloved British Actress Emma Chambers Passed Away At 53. Now Her Cause Of Death Has Been Revealed

And like McKellen, Chambers chose to pursue an acting career, perhaps spurred on by her appearances in productions at school. To that end, then, she left for London to learn her craft at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, where British actor Ross Kemp was among her classmates.

Before Chambers became a name on screen, though, she cut her teeth on the stage. In 1988, for instance, she would make her first appearance in London’s West End, playing the role of Geain in the Alan Ayckbourn play Henceforward…. Then, a year later, while in another Ayckbourn production, she was lauded by reviewer Harry Eyres for demonstrating her versatility and showcasing her character’s “kaleidoscopic emotional states with startling immediacy.”

But perhaps not merely content with treading the boards, Chambers subsequently ventured into TV. There, she first appeared as Margaret in a 1988 BBC adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence novel The Rainbow. Two years later, meanwhile, she was seen on screen in episodes of British police drama The Bill.